Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Okay. Sometimes it is a generational thing. It is difficult, especially now. Being young now is very difficult. It brings its own challenges. One of them is in regard to intervention. We say that when a young person needs intervention it has to be there because early intervention is key. Most of us would say that intervention by mental health services for young people in this country is very arbitrary. If one is waiting more than three months for intervention, and in some cases for six months or a year, there is something very wrong.

I was a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Future of Mental Health Care in the last Dáil. It issued a report in 2018. Like most things, reports can gather dust. However, I looked over it before I came to the Chamber and one of the recommendations was with regard to the domination of medication as a treatment option. This is very pertinent given what is happening in south Kerry. Overmedication was compensating for the lack of services. That is key to what we are discussing today because there are many other interventions young people can get aside from medication. In the last 25 years, the prescribing of medication, particularly for young people, has quadrupled. That is very worrying.

With regard to primary care psychological services, and I will have to be very careful here, they are not meeting the needs of young people at present. In the last year those interventions in CAMHS have increased by at least one third, so there is a demand. Obviously, the pandemic has caused quite detrimental things for all of us. Young people have shaped that in their own way, but intervention is key.

Finally, the key thing in this debate is resources. The Minister of State knows that Ireland spends 5.2% on mental healthcare. The European Union, the WHO and Sláintecare say that should be doubled. To do that it would be necessary to invest an extra €1 billion in mental healthcare. The current €1 billion is welcome but it needs to be much more.

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